‘I want dead presidents to represent me’
John D. Rockefeller is dead. Andrew Carnegie is dead. Cornelius Vanderbilt is dead. These were some of the richest men just a few decades ago and today few know anything about them.
Peter Manigault, William Bingham, and Elias Derby are also dead. They were three of the richest Americans of the 18th century and only historians even recognize their name.
Below is a list of the richest Americans since 1770 (listed chronologically)1. How many do you recognize?
- Peter Manigault
- Robert Morris
- William Bingham
- Benjamin Franklin
- John Hancock
- Elias Hasket Derby
- Thomas Willing
- Stephen Girard
- Stephen Van Rensselaer
- John Jacob Astor
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
- William Henry Vanderbilt
- John D. Rockefeller
- Andrew Carnegie
- John D. Rockefeller
- Henry Ford
- Andrew Mellon
- Henry Ford
- H. L. Hunt
- J. Paul Getty
- Howard Hughes
- Daniel Ludwig
- Sam Walton
- John Kluge
- Bill Gates
- Jeff Bezos
- Elon Musk
This is the true legacy of wealth. Not only is it short-lived, but many, perhaps most, of these people were despised while they were alive. The evidence is clear: if you want to achieve enduring fame, you must do more than accumulate extraordinary amounts of wealth.
Heroes of History
We all know history is written by the victors–or as Silco from Netflix’s Arcane Series says ’what is truth but a survivor’s story?—but who are the characters in these stories?
If we examine the history books and the collective consciousness, we see people are generally remembered for three things: revolutionary ideas, transformative art, and extraordinary deeds.
2,000 years after their death, we still study the ideas of Ancient Greeks such as Aristotle, Socrates, Seneca, Plato, and Epicurus. The same is true—albeit to a lesser extent—of music, literature, and other media. The works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Jane Austen, and Pablo Picasso are still highly enjoyable today despite the vast cultural changes since their time. Julius Ceasar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and George Washington are known today not for their ideas (although Napoleon is worth a study in this regard), but because they achieved something extraordinary. Extreme wealth is not extraordinary nor does it propagate beauty or wisdom (in fact it’s a pretty clear sign of a lack of wisdom).
There are, of course, hundreds more examples of famous individuals who fall into these categories, but what is more interesting is what types of people are largely excluded from popular history. The inventors, engineers, scientists, and mathematicians responsible for the marvels of the modern world are mostly unknown. Politicians and rulers are also generally glossed over unless they did something particularly noteworthy. Perhaps the most egregious exclusion, however, is the exclusion of influencers (yes, Tik Tok influencers).
Unsung Heroes of History
No, of course I am not talking about TikTok influencers. Manking would be better off if that app disappeared and there was more friction between having a thought and broadcasting that thought to thousands of impressionable people.
What I am talking about is those who do not achieve much themselves, but whose influence is critical for the success of others. Without Aristotle’s tutelage it’s doubtful Alexander the Great would have been great, without the hosting of Gertrue Stein it is unclear how some of the works of Picasso, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, etc. would have turned out, and without the financial patronage of the Medici family it’s unlikely the Florentine Renaissance would have flowered as brilliantly as it did. It behooves us greatly to not only study admirable individuals, but also those who influenced them.
While these examples have been etched into history (shallowly), that does not make them more influential than the forgotten influences. Since they are forgotten self-reflection and imagination will serve us well. What are some of the most influential moments in your life and who enabled them? Perhaps you remember life lessons from your father, a friend supporting you at a low point, or even something as seemingly minor as a compliment from a stranger that gave you the confidence to strike up a conversation with someone who was to become your partner. Moments like these determine not only the quality of your life, but the course of everyone’s life and thus the course of history.
Your legacy actually (a quiet life of small virtue)
Chances are you will not produce any exceptional ideas, art, or deeds that will be remembered by the masses.
Nonetheless you will leave a legacy. Every action (and inaction) has some impact on the world. Buddhists call this Karma, scientists call it Causality, economists call it Unintended Consequences and it is a ubiquitous characteristic of reality.Our degree of interconnectedness to each other and the world at large is far deeper and mysterious than we can comprehend and even the smallest action may result in significant change like a butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon.
In light of such an unfathomable degree of unpredictability the best we can do is increase our openness to ‘not knowing’, embrace the potentially cosmic importance of ALL of our actions, and narrow our focus to the here and now to ensure we act as virtuously as possible as often as possible. For while we can never know the full impact of our actions, we must have faith that goodness begets goodness more often than not.
Even if you still dream of becoming famous by changing the world, changing your world remains the most effective way to do so. Narrow your focus to the man in the mirror, your loved ones, and your community. How you treat people is what most reliably and most powerfully reverberates across generations. Be the person who helps a person (who helps a person). While it may go uncelebrated and soon forgotten, how you treat others is your enduring and inevitable legacy.
Post Script
A few related thoughts:
It would be fascinating to examine the lives of the richest men of all time, focusing on questions such as where they happy? Did those around them love them?
I also think it would be cool if there was a social media account that posted daily the name of a rich person who was lost to obscurity (and tag Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other living billionaires).
My ability with words and the ability of words in general are inadequate to convey the full depth of interconnectedness that permeates our existence. However, there are ways to explore this mystery. The Marginalian frequently explores this theme and so does other media (the movie ‘Crash’ and the game ‘6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon‘). Buddhism is also particularity interested in interconnectedness and the practices of gratitude and questioning ‘what was this object in the past?’ can be really mind-expanding.